6.1 LJR Build

Gassiper

TJ Enthusiast
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2021
Messages
114
Location
Tennessee
I’ve wanted to make a build thread for a while. It won’t be super technical because I just honestly don’t know a ton about all the specifics but as long as I can remember I have wanted a six speed LJR. I was an Internet sales Director at a dealership in Georgia for a few years and we took this LJR in on trade with about 40,000 miles on it in 2012. I’ve had an LJ before but never a Rubicon. Always wanted a white one. I was walking from our new car building to our used car building to do the paperwork on it and one of my used car guys was buying it for himself. So about every six months, I would send a text to him asking if he was ready to sell it. I. Sent him a message August of last year and he said I had caught him on the right day. So I was finally able to buy it from him with only 67,000 miles. My goal from the beginning was to eventually do a hemi swap of some kind since that’s what I had wanted since I had my first LJ in 2006. Along the way I’ve made a few changes, but it is currently in the middle of the swap process getting a 6.1 Hemi. Since it is my daily driver, I wanted to make it as comfortable as possible so since I have purchased it…
-I pulled the old lift off of it and put a 2.5 inch RC lift.
-285/75/16 Toyo RT tires all the way around.
-Replaced the soft top with a new Bestop.
-Pulled off the Rustys front and rear bumpers and replaced it with a Warn front and rear bumper that I have had sandblasted and re-powder coated.
-Added a Warn winch I won in a raffle.
-Replaced the headlights with an LED set up.
-Hella Value fit fog lights.
-Added the cover craft seat covers front and rear to protect the near perfect interior.
-Pulled the carpet and dynamited the floor to help with road noise and insulation.
-Had the hard top refreshed with a coat of hot rod black and had the inside of the hardtop painted black before I added the Hotheads Headliner, which also helped with road noise and insulation.
-Replaced the factory stereo set up with a Kenwood touchscreen, added Memphis components and sub along with a five channel Memphis amp.
-To help out with a little bit of power and hopefully help with fuel efficiency, I added an AirRaid power tower, along with a Banks, cold air intake, exhaust and programmer.(Now that the 6.1 swap is underway I’ve got a banks, cold air intake, exhaust and programmer for sale. If anyone is looking!)

The 6.1 swap is out of a 2010 Challenger with 75,000 miles. I purchased it off of a GEN III Hemi page on Facebook. The guy delivered it to North Georgia for me from Missouri, and I immediately started tearing into it. The motor was extremely well taken care of and one of the cleanest I’ve seen inside. My hope is to have around 400 hp at the tires, so I added an Inertia Motor sports cam and replaced the lifters. All new gaskets and seals everywhere. Repainted the block and cleaned it up as best I can. Holley makes a great set up to do the swaps in these Jeeps, and I have a friend that works there, so I was able to get all of the parts needed that they make. So the motor mounts and motor mount inserts, headers, exhaust and a lot of other little odds and ends. Went with a Flex-A-Lite radiator with their fan set up. A new AX15 transmission from Novak. Decided to use a Luk clutch kit. The jeep will remain my daily driver, and it will never be abused on the trails so this set up will be more than sufficient for me. Got a great deal on an AX15 bell housing to mount it all together. Hotwires is currently working on rewiring the harnesses and fuse box so it’s kind of a waiting game at this point. Hopefully within about eight weeks we will have everything back from them and we will be able to finish the swap. Tom‘s 4 x 4 and Rocksolid Motorsports in Chattanooga Tennessee is completing the swap for me. These guys are super knowledgeable and have done a ton of swaps in all kinds of jeeps utilizing not only the Hemi platform but LS as well. Their work is second to none. I’m truly looking forward to having this thing back as a daily driver. I’ll post pictures along the way as things are completed and will be happy to answer any questions as best I can but here’s a few of the Jeep from the day I purchased to its current state.

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So sick! I also want to commend you on your persistence in getting it to begin with. Ill continue to watch your build. Cheers!
 
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Cool build. Will the shop have to modify the frame to clear the alternator? That’s the issue I’ve heard about with that version of the Gen 3.
 
Cool build. Will the shop have to modify the frame to clear the alternator? That’s the issue I’ve heard about with that version of the Gen 3.

I don’t believe so? I think they use an accessory setup for a ram and it works. I could be way off on that but I believe that was said.
 
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I don’t believe so? I think they use an accessory setup for a ram and it works. I could be way off on that but I believe that was said.

Interesting. My Hemi is a 2006 stroked 6.4 originally out of a Ram. I'm looking forward to following your build.
 
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Interesting. My Hemi is a 2006 stroked 6.4 originally out of a Ram. I'm looking forward to following your build.

P

I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it is. Either way I’m going by there tomorrow so I can ask and find out for you.

I appreciate it man. Looking forward to it as well. Since it’s some thing I’ve been working towards for about the last 15 years or so.
 
Very nice rig and plans.

What are you doing for gauges? The hemi is new enough it uses a different data BUS than the TJ gauges. Just curious how you plan to move forward in that area.
 
Very nice rig and plans.

What are you doing for gauges? The hemi is new enough it uses a different data BUS than the TJ gauges. Just curious how you plan to move forward in that area.

Factory gauges. After the rewire from Hotwires is pretty much plug and play. That’s one of the reasons I went with a Hemi over an LS.
 
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Factory gauges. After the rewire from Hotwires is pretty much plug and play. That’s one of the reasons I went with a Hemi over an LS.

Interesting. I’d be curious to see how it all works when you get it back.
 
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Factory gauges. After the rewire from Hotwires is pretty much plug and play. That’s one of the reasons I went with a Hemi over an LS.

Do you know which ECU they will use? What year is the LJ?

And I see you are in TN - whereabouts? I’m south of the city in Brentwood.

Jeff
 
Cool my childhood house is on Burning Bush rd.I’m in Chickamauga now.By the way why do they have Deitz Rd closed?

Main water line in the Walgreens parking lot busted 4 or 5 months ago. Not sure if that had anything to do with it because they haven’t fixed it yet but from the red light to the entrance of that new oil change place is dig up about 3 feet deep the entire width of the road.
 
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Nice looking build.
I finally started on my HEMI upgrade just a few weeks ago, and guess I need to start a build thread also.
Wondering how long ago you sent your harness in to Hotwire, they gave me a 14-16 week return time, but did say it could be sooner than that. Sent mine in about 4 weeks ago.
Try to start my thread sometime soon, but warn that I'm not very good about recording, reporting a lot of details..🤪
 
Nice looking build.
I finally started on my HEMI upgrade just a few weeks ago, and guess I need to start a build thread also.
Wondering how long ago you sent your harness in to Hotwire, they gave me a 14-16 week return time, but did say it could be sooner than that. Sent mine in about 4 weeks ago.
Try to start my thread sometime soon, but warn that I'm not very good about recording, reporting a lot of details..🤪

We definitely need a Hemi build thread.

(If for no other reason than to pressure Ryan (@Apparition) into doing an LS build thread…)

🙂
 
Nice looking build.
I finally started on my HEMI upgrade just a few weeks ago, and guess I need to start a build thread also.
Wondering how long ago you sent your harness in to Hotwire, they gave me a 14-16 week return time, but did say it could be sooner than that. Sent mine in about 4 weeks ago.
Try to start my thread sometime soon, but warn that I'm not very good about recording, reporting a lot of details..🤪

8-10 weeks. They just got it last week. They’re backed up for sure.
 
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